NEW ORLEANS SCREENING TO BENEFIT PALFI ESTATE
AND CHARITY AUCTIONS: WIN A CD FROM JEFF'S PERSONAL COLLECTION
Dear Friends:
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Once you do, I hope you will decide to help .
We all watched in horror as floods devastated New Orleans in 2005. We could only imagine the thousands of stories, the thousands of tragedies, and they're still on-going. I'm going to tell you about one of them, and a way that you can make a difference in that story.
It was a small miracle that put Stevenson Palfi at the old Howlin' Wolf club the night Jeff performed there, in 1995. It was another small miracle that prompted still-photographer, Merri Cyr, to put her video camera in the hands of the legendary documentarian of New Orleans' seminal blues and jazz musicians. In fact, it was because of a collection of small miracles that we were able to reclaim and include that footage in "Grace Around the World", the DVD which was just released. For that reason we dedicated the DVD to Stevenson's memory.
It was in the aftermath of Katrina, when the levees broke, that Stevenson's life's work was destroyed. When he gave up hope of retrieving the remnants of a life devoted to the passion of photographing and filming musical history, he sunk into a deep depression and took his own life. He left behind a daughter, Nell, and her mother, Polly, who is now administering his estate, and doing what she can to retrieve and preserve what was and is a considerable gift to the world, which was Stevenson's passion captured on film.
I will be attending one last "Grace Around the World" release event, in New Orleans, this Saturday, August 8. It will be at the NEW Howlin' Wolf (much bigger!), and it will benefit Stevenson's family. The admission is only $10 per person, there will be a full screening of the DVD (big screen - big speakers!), there will be live music, there will be door prizes, there will be freebees, we will meet, we will have fun. Please come! Let's fill the town and the club with Jeff Buckley fans!!
Also, in order to raise as much money as we can for Nell and Polly, I have selected 17 CDs* from Jeff's personal collection, and am offering them on eBay. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the proceeds from the auctions and the event will be donated to Nell and Polly. Also included in each auction is one Mystery White Boy Shirt ( now out of production and no longer available anywhere else), Set of Jeff Buckley Postcards, Guitar Pics and Tattoo Set with Jeff's hand designed flaming skull artwork. I am also going to include in that donation 100% of the proceeds from the sales of ALL merchandise on the website and at auction for the rest of August, so I hope as many of you as can will participate in supporting this worthy cause. Log on at
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/jeffdefender Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in New Orleans!!
Best wishes,
Mary Guibert
* Jeff Buckley CD Collection Charity Auction Listings:
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - The Blues Man
Yo La Tengo - Painful
The Jesus Lizard - Head/Pure
Creation Rebel - Psychotic Jonkanoo
Butthole Surfers - The Whole Truth And Nothing Butt
The Stooges - Self Titled
Pixies - Doolittle
REM - Lifes Rich Pageant
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan - Mehfil-E-Qawwali
Dead Boys - Young Loud And Snotty
Switched on Stereolab - Slumberland 22
The Residents - The Mole Show, Live in Holland
Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
The Residents - Eskimo
Fishbone - Self Titled
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Volume 5
Janes Addiction - Skin And Bones